As a stutterer myself, speaking on the phone was a huge nightmare for me. I used to avoid making phone calls at all cost, even if that means… …writing a long email to my credit card company(which I’ll have to wait for a couple days to get a response) instead of calling the customer service and get my answer right away. OR ; …driving all the way to the other side of the city to order and pick up my pizza instead of ordering it on the phone just by picking up the phone and placing my order in less than 2 minutes. I know it doesn’t make any sense… in fact it might sound funny, but it is the plain truth about my experiences with stuttering and phone calls. I guess, going through all that hassle must have been LESS emotionally painful than struggling with my speech on the phone. So, if you can relate with those kinds of negative experiences, just bear with me here because I am going to share 3 stuttering tips with you which you can use to speak easily and confidently on the phone without experiencing speech struggles. Tip-1: No matter who the person you are calling on the phone is, never ever think that he/she is superior than you. One of the most dangerous psychological triggers of the stuttering behaviour is the self limiting belief of “I am LESS THAN others”. This mindset will sure work against you and therefore will kill your chances of speaking the way you want to speak in any situation… including speaking on the phone. Let me make one thing clear for you. I was told this hundreds of times, but I didn’t completely believe in it until I experienced and lived this REALITY! You are NOT less than anybody else just because you are a person who stutters. Let me repeat this, you are NOT less than anybody else! You don’t owe to anybody just because you have a stuttering challenge. Don’t try to please others thinking that they are superior and unfortunately they have to communicate with a person who stutters like yourself. No, no, no… Self respect is something you should never underestimate the power of. Remember that as people we are all something, but none of us are everything! Tip-2: Make sure you resist time pressure. We, as stutterers, tend to rush our speech… especially when we are EXPECTED to speak. Think about it, when you get asked a question, what is the first thing you do? Say something right away, right? Don’t you have that tendency to start speaking as soon as possible? Most stutterers do. So, what can you do to counterattack that? Right! Resist time pressure and speak when you are ready to speak… not when you are expected to speak. Pause and breath properly before you start speaking. If nothing else, it’ll stop your tendency to rush your speech. Pausing on purpose (before you answer a question for example) is a good way to bring the conversation to your terms. Keep your assertive right and do not try to match your speech rhythm or speed(especially when initiating your voice) to the “possible” expectations of others. Don’t start speaking as soon as you hear the “Hello” sound on the other side of the phone line. You don’t have to speak right away, just take your time and initiate your sentence when you are ready to initiate it…especially if you are using some effective speaking tools and techniques to manage your speech. Tip-3: Use effective physical and mental speaking techniques which would help you to manage your speech successfully once you are on the phone. This is a critical part of the process which is extremely underestimated because of our previous negative stuttering treatment experiences… which all we got were either no or temporary results. If those techniques are really effective and powerful techniques, and you use them with the right mentality, they would give you the confidence to face “speaking on the phone fear” of yours and know that you can handle and manage it successfully as long as you stick with them. So, those were 3 quick stuttering tips for you when it comes to speaking on the phone Stuttering help is actually something we all need to improve our speech and reach our speaking goals, but we lost hope in time. Why? Because none of the help we tried so far was able to meet our expectations and fully satisfy us. I strongly believe that the trick is overcoming stuttering the RIGHT way! You need to get help from the right people, on the right time. You need to learn the right knowledge and apply it the right way… and last but not least you need to approach the whole subject with the right mindset Anyways, this is a whole different subject by itself. I’ll try covering it on another time OK, let’s just wrap this up… 3 stuttering tips for speaking on the phone without struggling with your speech are: 1) Get over your limiting belief that you are less than others. Treat the phone conversation as a communication session and never lose your self-respect just because you have a stuttering challenge. 2) Resist time pressure while speaking on the phone…especially before initiating your sentences. Managing your speech is critical in stressful speaking situations, and rushing your speech would make your speech almost impossible to manage. 3) Learn and use effective physical and mental speaking techniques which will give you the confidence and enable you to manage your speech successfully while speaking on the phone. I hope you enjoyed the article… and please feel free to comment below and share your thoughts on the subject. Is there any stuttering tips you’d like to share with others when it comes to speaking on the phone? Until next time…take care yourself and keep in mind that stuttering is NOT a good enough reason not to live your life to the fullest! Shared by Chazzler DiCyprian http://stutteringdissolution.com/blog/stuttering-help-%E2%80%93-3-stuttering-tips-for-speaking-on-the-phone-without-struggling-with-your-speech/
